Get Ready for Your Trip ~ Hiking 101 pg#2

Wear clothes that you can get a bit dirty, and be sure to have good walking shoes so you don't stumble along the trail. On the trail it is crucial to wear long pants and socks to protect you from poison oak and ticks.

Before you go hiking, you should learn to recognize poison oak. Poison oak is a plant with three leaves that will give you a rash if you touch it. It looks kind of like the leaves of the blackberry bushes, except that the blackberry plant has little thorns and poison oak is smooth and shiny. The leaves can be big or tiny, green or red. In the winter it looses its leaves and looks like just sticks. The chant: “Leaves of three, let them be; if it’s hairy, it’s a berry” might help you remember how to identify poison oak. But you might just want to stay on the trail and out of the bushes so that you don’t have to worry about poison oak at all.

QUOTE BOX ~ Listen to what other kids have to say! (click photo)
	"I like being in the forest because we can kiss the banana slug and hear the sound of the river, how it’s relaxing, and look at the animals that live there in nature." - Esteffany